Challenges Never Cease

It has been over four years that I’ve had this extraordinary privilege of serving as Global Ambassador for the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA). This calling has led us to some interesting and tough places. It began with a trip to Somalia. Protected by a warlord—five soldiers and a truck—they guarded me as I visited refuge camps, examining the safety and viability of Christian aid groups being able to get back into this lawless land. All the while they kept eye out for al-Shabaab, the terrorist group. Then on to how many countries? Someone asked. Well, I haven’t even counted. But in most every region of the world. They include meeting with the other two major Christian communities of Roman Catholics and the World Council of Churches in the Global Christian Forum. Visiting disaster areas such as Japan, Nepal and South Sudan. Sitting down with my WEA colleagues with Pope Francis for a two-hour leisurely lunch, allowing our conversation to carry us to so many place of common interest. Lily and I were in Egypt during the revolution, returning time and again to the Middle East. Ministering to Iraqi young people in Iraq. Then we completed a first-of-its-kind book: Evangelicals Around the World: A Global Handbook for the 21st Century, a composite of 50 writers explaining our history, theology and community. It can be ordered on Amazon. As I visit I write perspectives for Dispatches and articles for newspapers and magazines. Soon a prayer guide –An Insider’s Guide to Praying the World, will be launched.

"Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confessional, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus-Christ - living and incarnate."
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Spiritual movements produce bizarre and often cult-like offshoots. Nowhere is this truer than in Brazil. The explosion of Christian faith in Latin America, and indeed in the world, occurs in an environment where ideas framed by hope, accelerate popularity of some giving influence to self-proclaimed prophets. The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God is … Continue reading →

If you think you have grasped the history of Argentina by seeing Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Evita, or having heard “Don’t cry for me, Argentina,” at least do a Google search. The roller-coaster story of politics and economics in this eighth- largest country in the world is like few others. Named because of its rich silver … Continue reading →

What do you do when your country is in free fall? When lineups for basic foodstuffs wind around the block, and hours later when you get your turn, the shelves are bare? When the police stop you anywhere and everywhere, peering into your vehicle, checking your status? When homicides in the capital alone can average … Continue reading →